Sunday Hardcore Matinee
by KingRichRock
Summary: "We had each other Things are different today We had each other and the glory never fades away" Or, in which both Caitlin Snow and Barry Allen are two massive punk rock nerds in college who don't know each other. But they get by with a little help from their friends, classic punk rock, and good reliving the angsty teenage glory days down at the good old "Sunday Hardcore Matinee"


So this has been an idea in my head for a little while because I just see teen Barry and Caitlin being super into punk because they were both intellectual outcasts and whatnot and also cause it serves the purpose of this story. Every Chapter derives its title from a Punk song and this thing should be like 10 chapters maybe. Not a lot of angst but maybe some but anyway I want to thank my super awesome friend and super supporter/beta Eccacia my dude thanks for being awesome. Can never stress that enough.

Chapter one is Wrong Way Kids, by Bad Religion (2010)

"Stop them from shimmering away, On blank sidewalk glittering asphalt somewhere summer days, The Wrong Way Kids were something more than friends, Navigating a sprawl without end."

* * *

 _Barry_

Central City University. Not bad for a state school. Great biology undergrad program. Incredible computer tech program. Great physics department. Three buildings named for various members of the Queen family. And of course, the track and field arena.

Barry Allen, 20-year-old track star extraordinaire had been on the down and out for the last three races. He had been slow ever since coming off of his broken leg a few weeks back. His last race had proven he still wasn't at 100%, and even though he knew recovery was a long road, he was feeling impatient and irritated by the constant issues of his journey back to the top. Namely the ache in his right leg and having to suffer through the pop songs on iris's phone as her and Oliver coached/cheered him on from the booth.

He still had 5 seconds to shave off before the end of the week, but he couldn't manage to get motivated to whatever had been at the top of the charts from earlier that week. He knew Oliver had some classic rock on his phone, but he wasn't in the mood for Black Sabbath or Zeppelin. He knew his Spotify had the perfect playlist for the occasion, but getting Iris on board was always a challenge. She was not, as the cool kids would say, punk as fuck.

He walked up the stands to the announcer's booth, where he was greeted by way of a smirk from liver and a glare from Iris.

"No. Don't you dare Bartholomew Henry Allen. Don't you dare." She said, lacking any serious conviction but still putting up the same front she did since they were kids.

"Well damn Iris, and here I was thinking I would dare." Barry retorted, a snort coming from behind them that Barry knew was Oliver. Because of course Oliver would find this humorous. Of course he would.

"Ugh. Fine. But We're listening to my phone on the car ride back to the apartment." Iris countered, unplugging her phone and pushing the aux cord into the bottom of Barry's smartphone. "I'm just gonna guess 'Sick runnin jams' is what you want me to pay?" She finished, a sigh at her oldest friend's massive nerdy qualities.

With that, and a satisfied smirk on the face of the Oliver, Barry went back down to the track. After his stretches were completed, he waited for the tell-tale signs of _Supersonic_ to begin blaring over the PA, the overdriven guitar propelling him forward as he felt himself grow lighter in elation, each foot making solid contact, the pain he had been feeling earlier being alleviated by the endorphins in his system from finally feeling free. And it was a feeling he always came back to with his punk collection. And it was a feeling unlike any other when he finished 8 seconds faster than he had planned to, the last chords of _Let Us Hear Your Voice_ that he finished his mile, Oliver and Iris sitting at the bleachers to meet him, grins on their faces.

"That was great Barry. You'll get Thawne next time." Oliver said, and the mini glare from iris had him on course correction. "Eobard, of course. I hear that Eddie guy is a pretty fine fellow." Oliver said, scratching behind his neck as Barry let out a laugh that he felt like he'd been holding in for a long time. The sound of _Rejected_ was still blaring over the loudspeakers in the arena, but for Barry, it was like a calm he hadn't felt in a long time. A very long time.

* * *

 _Caitlin:_

Lab had run late. It always did. But at least she had Cisco and Felicity with her for the inevitable long walk from the Queen Science and Engineering Building to the dorms always brought them past the Central City University Arena, a building Caitlin hadn't been in since freshman orientation. And the usually quiet and dark arena had lights on and music blaring through the walls that she would recognize anywhere. Except it cut out, and she found herself disappointed for being disappointed that some jocks could fully appreciate Bad Religion's _Quality or Quantity_.

As usual, she was so lost in her own thoughts that when Felicity and Cisco pulled her behind the walled off stairs, she was surprised until she saw said jocks walking past her. She couldn't make them out in the dark, but Felicity and Cisco were obviously aware of who they were.

"Dude." Cisco whispered, "That was Oliver Queen and Barry Allen."

"And don't forget CCU Review Chief Editor Iris West." Felicity added, in awe.

"Those names all sound familiar. But why do I care, and why am I hiding?" Caitlin huffed, stepping out from the darkness, the other trio having passed them by without a second glance.

"Because the Queen family owns like half of the campus and like all of Star City and also because he's the quarterback for the football team. Because Barry Allen was the track all-star darling until he broke his leg and lost in his first match back to Keystone U's asshole in residence Eobard Thawne. Or maybe because Iris West caught and exposed that grade trading ring last year in the English Department." Cisco said, the three returning to their walk back to the undergraduate dorms.

"Again, why were we hiding? Why do I care?" Caitlin reiterated, a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Because we're nerds and they are so not." Felicity retorted.

"This isn't high school anymore Fel. No one is going to beat us up or take our lunch money. We're adults. Kind of." Caitlin said, feeling exasperated but remembering the cutting words and pain caused by mean kids growing up.

"Best not to tempt fate." Cisco said, and their dorm building came into sight.

"One of them was listening to Bad Religion over the PA. They can't be all that bad." Caitlin said, her voice a little small. Because why would she defend any of them? She didn't know them.

"God you would base the fundamental principle of whether or not you think someone is okay because they listen to an old punk band." Cisco joked.

"They're old, but the music is just as important now as ever," She retorted, rolling her eyes. "and anyway, it's just an observation."

"You have that look on your face. I know you're bummed you missed the show with them and Against Me! but that just happened to be the night of Dr. Wells' presentation on dark matter. Worth it, right?" Cisco said, and she knew, deep down he was right.

But missing your favorite band, anytime they were in town and you could have gone was always painful. They didn't get it, but not everyone does. And Caitlin knew that she would be catching them at the Punk Rock Festival that happened in Keystone every summer so she guessed it would all work out in the end.

Caitlin let silence be her answer, and unlocked the door to her and Felicity's tiny dorm room, complete with two twin beds on either side of the room, a small TV on their conjoined mini dressers. And their desks pushed together in the middle of the very small room to establish a boundary for the sake of sanity. The mini fridge with Felicity's mini wines and Caitlin's bottles of beer. Because college.

With Cisco back in his own dorm across the hall, him and Wally already having powered up their Xbox for a night of Halo and bad decisions, she decided to change and get ready for bed.

She let her hair out of the ponytail that lab had required of her and changed from her pants into comfortable sleep shorts and left on her comfy Descendents 'Milo Goes to College' T-shirt from that day and went to go to sleep. Felicity had logged onto her computer to play one of her online games until some unreasonable hour of the morning, and Caitlin knew she should sleep. But no sleep would be complete without her putting in her earbuds and playing an album to calm her nerves.

Minor Threat's 'Complete Discography' was as good as any.

* * *

 _Barry_

The three of them had left the stadium shortly after he had finished his run, heading back across campus to Oliver's car so they could drive to the apartment they shared that was technically still on campus but not on campus.

Iris had already retired to her room with Eddie, who had beaten them back by a few minutes. Sara would still be out with Nyssa for the night, so it left Barry and Oliver on the couch watching the Baseball Tonight wrap up and enjoying a late-night pizza.

"Hey man, did you notice those three who were watching is from behind the stairs when we left the arena?" Oliver asked, and Barry sputtered up some beer, completely surprised by Oliver's question because _no, I hadn't noticed_ was all Barry could think.

"No I didn't. Did you know them?" Barry asked, playing off how oblivious he had been.

"I didn't think you or Iris did, but I noticed them cut from our line of site as we left the arena. One was a blonde I've seen around campus and the guy and the girl were new to me. But the other girl, a brunette, had on a t-shirt that was vaguely familiar. Mind if I look in your closet, I think you have the same one?" Oliver said, more of a statement than asking for permission.

"Go ahead, now I'm curious." Barry said, following his best friend into his modest sized apartment room.

Oliver rooted through the closet until he found the soft cotton t-shirt in a faded blue tinted grey with an iconic logo that Barry had known most of his life.

"Holy shit dude she was wearing a Milo Goes to College Shirt?" Barry asked, incredulous.

"Yeah this is definitely it. I didn't know the design off hand but I've never seen another shirt that looks vaguely like this until tonight.

"Dude that's so rad. She might be a punk. Cool." Barry was excited, but knew his odds of ever seeing this girl again were slim to none.

Oliver must have notice the look on his face, because he put his hand on his shorter friend's shoulder. "Look man, just because I've never seen her doesn't mean you'll never meet her. I noticed some things when they were walking. They all had lab coats in their arms and they all had backpacks, so they probably came from the science and engineering building my dad had built last year. And the blonde I see every Tuesday at Geology, so maybe I can track her down and get some answers. Let me see if I can help you find this dream nerd Barry, because the odds of another punk rocker in our science program can't be too great." Oliver finished, taking his seat on the couch falling back into his habitual silence.

They sat like that for another hour or so, in silence, with baseball and other sport highlights playing on the TV, neither giving it their full attention.

And when they said goodnight, they both went to their respective rooms and prepared for their night in different ways. Oliver did his hundred pull ups, sit ups, and push ups before retiring.

Barry did what he did best. He put on Rancid's 'Let's Go" and danced around a bit, cleaning up his room and putting away the dirty laundry in its hamper and selecting an outfit for the next day, happy for the first time in a long while at the possibilities that lay before him. He could run again. His friends were by his side. And apparently, there was another punk on campus who wasn't into the poser style and was into the same classics he was. The future held more promise for Barry than it had in a very long time. But a lifetime of bad news, hard breaks, and disappointment didn't let his optimism run wild. Not yet.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed it.

Authors Note: While it is my goal to update regularly, college and work and maybe a second job might make it hard but unlike most things I write I really don't want to abandon this so I won't if I can help it. And I will definitely swing around back to my other works after this semester probably.

Again. Never can give Eccacia enough credit for getting me to both write this and post it. Your are without a doubt the best of all. Thank you, my friend

Songs used in this Chapter:  
"Supersonic: by Bad Religion (2002)  
"Let Us Hear Your Voice" by Pennywise (2012)  
"Rejected" by Rancid (1993)  
"Quality or Quantity" by Bad Religion (1990)

Albums Mentioned:  
"Milo Goes to College" by Descendents  
"The Complete Discography " by Minor Threat  
"Lets Go" by Rancid

Not a single song on these albums disappoints honestly and I listened to all of them in their entirety when I was writing and editing this.


End file.
